Every first sunday of the month, we organize a regatta open to every passionate ! Both Catamaran’s and Mono-hull boats will be racing from11am to 3pm. Come and enjoy the wild nature in the Volta River Estuary !You can enjoy a boat estuary tour, rent a sailing boat and take a sailing lesson, rent a canoe, kayak, grill your fish on the Club BBQ, relax on the beach, share the drinks in the club bar …You are welcome to visit our Sailing Club, Information and membership application for 2015 will be open ! We would welcome potential new members with open arms…The Committee GSC

The Special General Meeting and the club’s annual Christmas Dinner went off well, and were well supported.

During the SGM, I opened the floor for suggestions from the members as to how they see the way forward for the club in order to promote sailing and to grow the membership numbers.There were several good suggestions which the new committee can follow up on.

The committee for 2014 was duly elected, and I would like to thank everybody for coming forward and volunteering to fill the open positions.Herewith the new committee:

Commodore:Jacques Magnee

Sailing Secretary:Pawel Rosiecki

Treasurer:Roy Isted

Secretary:For new committee to appoint

Membership Secretary:David Casanova

Social Secretary/Bar Member:Simon Inskip

Assistant Social/Bar Member:Laurent Gareau

Maintenance Member:Martin Walsh

Safety Boat/Berthing Member:Paul Theron

Laser/Canoe Member:Jean-Luk Allemand

Website Manager:Rasmus Johansson

I congratulated the incoming commodore, Jacques Magnee, and wished him and his committee well for the coming year.Jacques expressed his commitment and thanked me as the outgoing commodore for my efforts.

With the formalities out of the way, the dinner was served – course after course of delicious seafood with lots of wine and good cheer.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the members a very happy Festive Season, and a prosperous 2014.May the club go from strength to strength.

We had a good turnout at the club for the above, lots of fun was had on the Saturday night, as you can see from the photos!

Fun around the bonfire

Sunday’s regatta was fairly well supported, but we can always do with more boats on the starting line! There were 2 races, and a fun race – sailing backwards (!?)

The results:

Race 1:

1st – Duncan and Rupert on Spanker

2nd – Pawel and Maria on Ocean Nationals

3rd – Jacques and Dave on Wobbly Goblin

Duncan first over the line, closely followed by Pawel

Race 2:

1st – Duncan and Rupert

2nd- Pawel and Maria

3rd- Rasmus and Milly, our new members (on the purple Hobie) sailing in their first regatta ever! Well done!

Rasmus and Mille competing in their first regatta and doing well!

The “Sailing Backwards” race was a bit of a disaster, firstly because it was after a good barbeque and liquid refreshments, and secondly because it is not that easy to sail backwards out of choice! Everybody gave it up as a bad job and ended up going for a lovely cruise around the island.

The committee has decided that, given the number of committee members that have either left the country or are about to leave, we need to hold a Special General Meeting before December to appoint the 2014 committee.

It is therefore intended that we will combine the SGM with our Annual Christmas Party which will take place at Atlantic Lobster Restaurant, in Osu on Friday 29th November 2013, starting at 07-00 PM. The cost of the seafood banquet meal is Ghc 60.00 which includes free beer and wine in reasonable quantities, the money can be paid in on the night.

We need to inform Atlantic Lobster of our numbers for catering purposes, so, please could you contact Zenda on zendageddes@telkomsa.net and if you have any questions you can ring her on 024-975-9758.

Please let her have your confirmations by no later than 20th November 2013.

We would urge members to make every effort to attend the SGM and the party, it was a great night last year. The intention at this SGM will be to discuss the clubs future going forward and appoint the new committee for 2014 to enable the new committee members to take over from the departing members.

With regards to the committee and the positions involved, the following is the present position:

1) I, as Commodore, am retiring in December and returning to SA however Jacques Magnee has kindly agreed to stand.

2) Duncan MacNichol as Sailing Secretary, has after many years on the committee decided to step down due to his work obligations.

PawelRosiecki has kindly agreed to stand for this important position.

3) Kevin Wingfield, our Treasurer, is leaving Ghana in November. Kevin has done a really excellent job in bringing the club books back into line and we desperately need a competent person to take over this responsibility and fill this vital position.

4) We presently do not have a Club Secretary.

5) David Casanova is presently the Membership Secretary and has agreed to stay on in this position for another year.

6) Martin Walsh as Maintenance member has also agreed to stay on in this position.

7) Zenda Geddes as Social Secretary/Bar Member is also returning to SA at Christmas and Simon Inskip has agreed to take on this position.

8) We need to find a lady who would be prepared to take on the Assistant Social Secretary position

9) Paul Theron has kindly agreed to take over from Pawel the position of Safety Boat/Berthing Member.

10)We require somebody to volunteer to become the Laser/Canoe member

11) We presently do not have a Blog Member to maintain the Clubs website.

If you are prepared to stand for any of the vacant positions or if you know of any other member who would, please let me know. It is always good to have some new committee members with fresh ideas. Being on the committee is also good fun as our meetings are not that often and are always very social while still sorting out the club matters for the benefit of all.

With regards to Sailing, we have another racing day coming up on Sunday 3rd November and we would urge people to make every effort to attend. We are planning that there will be fun sailing on the Saturday afternoon followed by an evening party barbecue, with a bonfire on the beach and some Halloween games.

So why not make a weekend of it and join in the Saturday party as well as the Sunday racing. If you are planning to stay over on Saturday night, book your room or get the camping gear out and pitch a tent for the night.

Pawel and Duncan are going to try and make the Sunday a good fun racing day so let’s get lots of boats and crews out on the water. We will even have some sponsored prizes for the lucky sailors who impress the judges with their skills and spills!!!

I look forward to seeing you all at the Club this coming weekend and at the SGM and Christmas Party on the 29th November 2013.

Just an update on some club issues. Firstly, thank you to Ghana Breweries for the
painting of our river rescue boat – now aptly named the Voltic boat (a slight
improvement on the previous name!) She is looking gorgeous, and is now also
sporting a brand new Mercury 25 hp motor and ready for action.

The club has purchased a backpack insecticide spray kit with
all the safety equipment to go with it.
The staff will be spraying the entire club premises once a month to keep
the mosquito population at bay.

Here we are already past midyear, and a lot of the expats
away on their summer holidays. It has
been pretty quiet at the club lately as a result of so many members being away,
as well as the fact that a lot of members have left Ghana. As the yearly subscriptions is the club’s
main source of income, it is of some concern.
We would therefore like to urge all members to encourage visitors to the
club with the aim of recruiting new members.

The club has a lot to offer all age groups – we are
particularly keen to encourage the younger generation to learn to sail. To this end, the club has spent some money to
get two Lazers on the water which is the ideal boat to learn the basics of
sailing. The Lazers can be hired for either 2 hours or for the whole day at a
very reasonable rental. Also, one of our
club employees, Francis, has agreed to teach beginners to sail for a small fee. Francis is a very competent sailor and very
patient with the kids.

The club has also acquired some new kayaks to hire – two
singles and one double. We also still
have the Canadian canoe. They can also
be hired for either 2 hours or for the whole day.

The hiring out of our 4 rooms also brings in some welcome
income, and we would like to encourage the members to make more use of them. Room 1 (with Queen sized bed), and room 2
(with 2 bunk beds) have air conditioners.
Room 3 (with Queen sized bed) and room 4 (with 2 bunk beds) have
fans. All rooms are fitted with mosquito
nets, but members need to bring their own bedding and towels. The air
conditioned rooms are Ghc 50, and the ones with the fans at Ghc 30 per night. Please
ensure that you book your room at least 3 days in advance by phoning our club
manager, Isaac, at 0243501815.

The kitchen is well equipped with 3 fridge freezers, a gas
stove, a microwave oven and a coffee machine. There is plenty of crockery,
cutlery, pots and pans etc. We have 2
barbeques which the staff will light at any time, the charcoal is supplied by
the club. The staff will also organise
wood for a bonfire, which is magical for the kids (and non kids!). Remember to bring some marshmallows to
roast!

Those of you who have spent a night or a weekend at the
club, will know that there are few places in Ghana which offer the peace and
tranquillity you get there. Sitting on
the banks of the Volta River watching the sunrise or the seeing the full moon
reflecting on the water is a wonderful experience.

Hopefully once everybody is back from their holidays, the
monthly racing on the first Sunday of every month will thrive again. Any member who would like to crew on racing
day, can contact our sailing secretary, Duncan MacNicol at 0544330096 and he
can try and arrange a berth.

The club is also looking for sponsors for races or even mini
regattas in the form of prizes, providing meat for a barbeque etc. The sponsor can put up advertising for the
day – a great way to market your product as our members are from all walks of
life. It can also provide an opportunity to entertain some of your clients – we
could arrange for them to have a cruise on the river on a banana boat and visit
some of the local rum distilleries on the islands, or have a walk through the
fishing village which is quite an experience.
Please contact Zenda Geddes at 0249759758 or Simon Inskip at 0544310494 to
discuss sponsorship.

Looking forward to seeing lots of you (and your visitors)
out at the club and more importantly, out on the water! We’ve got the best sailing waters any sailor
could wish for, let’s use it!

Race day fast approaches (2nd June) so as usual would like to see as many boats on the water as possible. Race days are always a good chance to hone your sailing skills and the Sailing Secretary (Duncan McNicol) would be more than happy to give anyone a few tips and lessons should you wish.

We are also planning a mid-month cruise on the 16th June. This will be a great event for families and children. The object will be to pick a location to sail too where we will have a barbeque (Brai for those of Afrikaans descent!) and drinks waiting for us. This will be a bring your own food day but be prepared to share the cooked delights.

Update (03- June 2013)

Due to lack of wind in the morning and a squall in the afternoon, all races unfortunately had to be cancelled. The Rescue boat had to be scrambled to fetch one person on the Laser caught out on the water...